


Krypton

by commandles



Category: Black Panther (2018), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternative Universe - Krypton is still alive and Kara never goes to Earth, F/F, Idk at this point, Lena goes to Krypton for a science mission, another fluffy filler, but I think this is probably an AU, dusty space fluff, i'm not really sure what canon in in this fandom because I have never seen it, is that how to tag?, its fluff, soft and gentle are the main overused words here, strictly hand holding only, that and space rocks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23307643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commandles/pseuds/commandles
Summary: Lena is on a scientific mission to the planet Krypton. Kara goes over to help her and gives Lena the fright of her life ... at first.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Shuri
Comments: 13
Kudos: 163





	1. Space Rocks

Around her, everything was red. The sky. The ground. The rocks on the ground. Everything. Lena picked up another sample with a small sigh. Space rocks. She used to be excited about space rocks. Now, she just plonked them gracelessly into the categoriser on the trolley and brushed the thick, red dust from her glove.

Suddenly, she heard the loud clattering of rocks against rocks. Her gaze shot up. Loose gravel tumbled down the slope closest to her, only two metres away. Less. She squinted into the blurry red expanse before her. She cursed at the red sun, her eyes darting quickly across the landscape.

The landscape before her was silent, bare except for soft slopes of copper-coloured rocks, like a long-abandoned, sunburnt beach. There was no sign of what caused the movement. 

“Wind” she muttered to herself. “Must have been the wind.” 

She glanced up briefly at the sky. No sign of a storm. She took a nervous glance over her shoulder. To keep themselves amused last night, the crew had been telling each other ghost stories. She suddenly wished she hadn’t listened.

“Hello?” she called into the expanse. The spilled stones settled into a weighty silence. Lena could hear the sound of her blood throbbing in her ears as she scanned in vain for movement. She could see barely five feet in front of her face, and that was on a clear day.

“Calm down, Lena,” she muttered to herself, “they’re just bloody space rocks.”

With a final, tentative scan of the horizon, she went back to her work. She eased a particularly large rock sample out of the dirt, willing her heartbeat to settle.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a breath. A breath near her ear. She screamed, scrambling backwards instinctively. A looming shadow fell across her. Her desperate feet slipped in the loose dirt. She crashed to the ground. The rock sample skated out of her grip. The shadow loomed closer, huge against the sky. 

The figure screeched. Lena tensed, ready for the impact of a hit, or a bite, but nothing came. 

Tentatively, she glanced up. A Kryptonian towered above her. Its sharp, green eyes looked uncannily human. Lena had never seen one up close before. If it weren’t for the lack of spacesuit, Lena could easily have mistaken it for one of her crew. It barely looked at Lena, instead struggling against the large space rock sample Lena had dropped, which was now pinning its foot to the ground. 

Lena readied herself for confrontation. She had heard all the stories about Kryptonians. The details of the _CX-17_ _Massacre_ danced across her mind. Silently, she chanted her training words to herself and set her jaw in resolve.

_ Move slowly, deescalate. Move slowly, deescalate. Move slowly, deescalate. _

Lena summoned her courage, and very slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. She raised her hands, palms open, in a gesture of submission and defense. The  _ Krav Maga _ instructor in training had been so distractingly attractive that Lena couldn’t remember anything else she was supposed to do. She could feel a bead of nervous sweat rolling between her shoulder blades.

The Kryptonian collapsed onto its backside in defeat, unable to free its foot from beneath the rock.

Lena watched the Kryptonian carefully, and planned which direction she would roll if it got free and came at her. 

There was a long pause. 

“Are you okay?” the Kryptonian called over to her. Its English was perfect. It even seemed to have an American accent. Lena was too startled by this to respond.

“Are you okay?” said the figure again, louder this time. “You fell pretty hard.” 

It pushed a long strand of loose hair from its eyes and then leaned back onto its hands.

“I’m okay,” Lena stuttered back. She racked her brain for something passive to say, but nothing came out.

“Don’t worry,” the Kryptonian smiled softly, glancing at Lena’s tensely coiled body, “I don’t bite.”

“Why are you here?” said Lena sharply. As it spilled from her mouth, she realised how aggressive it sounded. Definitely not a deescalation. She wondered momentarily what it would be like to see your intestines leave your body.

“What do you mean?” asked the Kryptonian. Then its lips curled up softly at the edges in a very human grin. “This is my planet. Why are you here?”

“I mean here,” said Lena, urging her voice not to give away her fear, “talking to me.”

“I’m sorry,” it said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Okay,” Lena said, exhaling in feigned relief. She climbed to her feet and took a step back from the Kryptonian. She did not lower her hands from their defensive position.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” the Kryptonian said. Its voice was low, pacifying.  _ Deescalating _ . This was not what her books had taught her.

“What am I going to do?” it laughed. “I can’t even lift this one rock.”

Lena took another step back. 

“You can’t sneak up on me like that,” she said. She tried to match the Kryptonian’s friendly tone, but she just sounded shaky and full of adrenaline.

“I know, I’m sorry,” said the Kryptonian kindly, “I didn’t mean to at all. I forgot about your red sun vision thing. I thought you saw me when you looked up! I just came down to help with your specimens.”

“How do you know about …” said Lena, trailing off.

The Kryptonian gave a knowing grin and tapped her temple, as if to say that she knew and wouldn’t let on. It was an uncomfortably human gesture. All Lena could do was squint at it in confusion.

“Honestly,” said the Kryptonian, raising its hands in a shrug. “I just came down to help with your rocks.”

With one hand in the air to signal its passive intent, it reached into its tunic and pulled out a small notebook. It thrust the notebook towards Lena. “This is everything our science knows so far about your rocks. I thought it might help.”

Lena hesitated. Then, her eyes flickering to the Kryptonian’s warm expression, she leaned forward cautiously to take the booklet from it. 

She leapt backwards a little too quickly, which did not go unnoticed. The Kryptonian gave a small chuckle.

“Humans are so jumpy,” it said, a smile in its voice. 

Keeping a wary eye on the Kryptonian, Lena began to thumb through the notebook. There were hundreds of notes, all printed in beautifully tiny handwriting.

“Oh my god,” whispered Lena softly. She glanced up at the Kryptonian. “How did you … wow, radium?”

The Kryptonian beamed proudly at this. “I wrote it all out myself.” 

Lena kept flipping through the book, gasping, and clasping her hand to her ventilator in shock. She seemed to quickly forget to be wary of the Kryptonian. With every page, she glanced less and less at the trapped creature, becoming more and more engrossed in the notes.

“My name is Kara,” said the Kryptonian. It seemed happy to sit there and watch Lena’s rollercoaster of emotions. “And you are Dr. Luthor?” it asked, pointing to the name badge sewn to Lena’s chest.

“Lena,” said Lena, now too absorbed in the booklet to even look up. Lena’s body language softened as she read, her shoulders visibly relaxing and her eyes as wide as the Kryptonian moons.

“And what is your gender marker?” Kara asked.

Lena did look up for that one. “Pardon?”

“Sorry,” said Kara quickly. “I think I might have asked that wrong. We don’t have gender so I don’t practice very much. When I talk about you, should I say them, or he, or she, or … what are the other options again?”

Lena stared at Kara, dumbfounded. She barely met anyone on Earth with such an awareness. She hadn’t heard anyone mention anything even remotely political since she left home for training camp all those years ago, bar maybe one person. Realisation dawned upon Lena all at once. 

“Kara, who taught you that? Did you met Shuri?”

Kara nodded vigorously. “I gave her information about some technology when she was here, and she taught me  _ loads _ about humans.”

“Oh no,” smiled Lena, relaxing into the familiarity of the encounter all of a sudden. “What else did she teach you?”

“This,” said Kara with a childlike giggle, extending her middle finger to Lena. Lena grinned at the absurdity of having a Kryptonian flip her off.

“And she taught me all about colonisation,” said Kara.

“Sounds accurate,” Lena smiled.

“She taught me to watch out for white-coloured ones like you, because you might try to take over our planet,” said Kara, still grinning.

Lena laughed. “She’s not wrong.” 

Then, after a pause, Lena offered, “My  _ pronouns _ ? She/her.”

“ _ Pronouns _ ! That’s the word,” exclaimed Kara. “Kryptonians don’t have gender, but Shuri said she/her is the best one so you can use that one for me, too.” A broad grin spread over her face.

For Kara to know all of this, Shuri must have really liked her. Lena wondered briefly whether Kara and Shuri slept together, but the thought made her blush and she tried immediately to stop thinking about it. That only made her blush more.

“We should have a look at your foot,” said Lena.

Tentatively, Lena took a few steps towards Kara. Then Lena wedged her gloved hands between the rough surface of the specimen and the ground. She glanced at Kara, who did the same. The loose gravel around them shifted beneath their movement. 

“Ready?” asked Lena gently. Kara nodded.

“One, two, three!” said Lena. Together, they heaved the rock from Kara’s foot. Kara gave a sharp cry and winced tenderly as the rock released her foot. It was not overly heavy for Lena, who was able to lift it alone earlier, but she was glad to have Kara’s hands occupied, just in case. 

Kara let go of the specimen and Lena let it fall to the ground with a dull thud. A small cloud of dust puffed away from the impact. Realising what she was thinking, Lena chastised herself for being afraid of someone who was both very friendly and very injured. 

As soon as she was free, Kara began undoing the laces of her boot. She pulled it tenderly from her foot, and tossed it casually to the side. Then she turned back to prod at her injured foot, wincing slightly. Just like a human, her foot was already beginning to marble purple. She flexed her toes.

“Here, let me look at it?” asked Lena, now feeling embarrassed that she had been so unfriendly.

“Okay,” said Kara brightly. She extended her foot towards Lena. “What do you know about Kryptonian anatomy?”

“Literally nothing,” said Lena, taking Kara’s foot in the hand of her spacesuit. Kara squealed at the touch. 

“Sore?” asked Lena.

“And so, so cold,” laughed Kara softly. “It always gives me a fright.”

Lena’s mind flicked back to the thought of Kara and Shuri having sex. She blushed, and stared intently at Kara’s foot. It was thick with purple bruising.

“If you were a human, I would think it was broken,” said Lena. “What do you think?”

“It should be fine,” said Kara. “Kryptonians are much tougher than humans.” She moved to put her shoe back on, but even in the two minutes without it, her foot had become too swollen to fit.

“Okay,” said Lena, “Why don’t you come back to base? We have a very advanced medical system on board. I am sure it will work on a Kryptonian, you are practically the same thing.”

Kara looked highly unconvinced, her brow furrowed.

“Listen, I will feel much better about dropping a rock on your foot if I can at least help to fix you up afterwards. You can sit on the rock trolley and I can tow you back to base.”

Kara did not move. “I feel worried,” she said after a moment. “Shuri always said not to go inside, just in case.”

Lena hesitated. Kara was not joking this time; a dark look had crossed her face. 

“Just in case of what?” asked Lena gently.

“Men,” said Kara, solemnly. “Shuri said men get scared easily but they are not allowed to show it, so they often shoot things unnecessarily.”

Lena, momentarily taken aback, searched Kara’s face.

“Well, yes,” she said after a moment. “But Shuri was not in charge of them.”

“And is your chain of command infallible?”

“With a group of men?” laughed Lena. “I should be so lucky.” 

Kara stood up, grimacing as she tried to put weight onto her purple foot. 

“Thanks for your offer, but I might just limp back to town and see a proper healer,” said Kara. 

“That’s an hour’s walk away!” said Lena. Kara did not respond.

“Nice to meet you, Lena,” she said instead. Kara stretched out and took Lena by her shoulder. Then she placed a gentle kiss on the cheek of Lena’s ventilator. 

Lena blushed, and could think of nothing to say.

Kara turned to leave. Beneath her, she placed her foot carefully onto a smooth part of the terrain. Then, as she shifted her weight, pain shot up the sides of her leg. Her foot gave way beneath her and she tumbled ungracefully to the dirt. 

“Yeah,” laughed Lena quietly. “See ya, Kara.” 

Then, with a smile, Lena extended her hand and helped Kara to pull herself onto the sled.


	2. Code Red

Lena’s mission base was just a scattered collection of dome-shaped buildings, constructed by bolting pre-cut materials together and unfolding fiddly shapes from their pocket-sized instruction manuals. It had a tall, electrified fence and an automated guard tower. Their landing craft sat in the centre, and the heaviest machinery, including the oxygen scrubber and all of the generators, were splayed out closely beside it. Around that, different types of buildings spread out like the spiral arms of a galaxy.

As Lena towed Kara into the base, an airlock door swooped open on nearby Pod 1. A stern officer in an armoured space suit strode out of the door towards them with forceful steps. He tracked immediately for Lena, his taser hanging noticeably ready at his hip.

“Dr. Luthor,” he exclaimed. “Congratulations. I saw you coming on the infrared scanner with the captive. The cell in Pod 7 is almost ready.”

Kara shot Lena an uneasy look, a flash of fear striking itself across her face.

“Thank you, but you have misunderstood,” said Lena, with no attempt to keep the scolding tone out of her voice. “She needs to use the medical bay. Urgently. Can you please tell Grant to expect us?”

Kara was growing very small on the rock trolley, shrinking away from the soldier.

“With all due respect, Dr. Luthor, the system is not set up for Kryptonians, and even if it was -”

“Olsen,” snapped Lena, “that is no way to treat a guest of your Commander. She is already nervous that you all are going to shoot her.”

In a slight movement that neither Kara nor Lena missed, Olsen’s right hand twitched ever so slightly towards his taser. Lena glanced at Kara. Kara’s eyes were darting nervously around the base.

Lena gave Olsen a long, stern glare, and then headed off towards Pod 5, towing a shaky Kara behind her. As they left, Olsen hesitated, and then he took his radio from his shoulder and spoke firmly to another officer.

“Yes, you heard correctly,” said Olsen with a leer, just out of earshot. “A Kryptonian.”

  
  


**

  
  


The airlock door to Pod 5 wooshed open, and cool oxygen flooded into the entryway. With a final tug, Lena heaved Kara and all of the space rocks inside, and lifted her ventilator with a relieved sigh. 

Kara cowered against the rock sled in the gloom of the laboratory as her eyes adjusted. Dr. Grant was upon them immediately. 

“This is Kara,” said Lena, a warning in her tone. “She is my guest.”

“Kara?” said Cat with surprise. “ _ Shuri’s  _ Kara?”

Kara visibly relaxed, sitting up off the cart. She beamed as she nodded. “Shuri’s Kara,” she repeated happily.

“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” said Cat. “Shuri never shut up about you.” She shook Kara’s hand firmly. Kara seemed unsure what to do. She let her limp hand be shaken around for a moment.

Again, Lena’s mind wandered to thoughts of just how far Kara and Shuri’s relationship extended. It made her neck suddenly warm.

Together, Lena and Cat helped Kara off the sled. She stepped gingerly, working hard to avoid placing weight on her foot. Lena and Cat positioned themselves to either side of her, and supported her to hop into the treatment room. 

As they progressed, Lena became lost with what to say. The whole weight of the situation seemed to dawn on her only now. Yesterday, she was just as afraid of Kryptonians as anyone. Now, here she was, helping one into the most precious pod on the base after talking to her about colonisation. She could feel the radiant warmth from Kara’s body pressing against her side. 

As they entered the small treatment unit, Cat flicked on the power switch. With a whirr, the treatment table in the centre of the pod came to life with a pale blue glow. Warm, golden sun lamps beamed down from overhead. Six different monitors lit up and large pieces of medical machinery began to blink awake.

Cat and Lena guided Kara towards the treatment table. Kara blinked heavily in the light, and allowed herself to be leant against the table. Lena noticed how cold her skin felt, even through her rad-suit, now that Kara was not pressed to her side.

Suddenly, Kara cried out. She pressed her hands to her temples. Her eyes seemed unable to focus. Cat and Lena both spun around to look just as Kara collapsed to the floor.

“Kara!” cried Lena, rushing to her side.

“The noise!” Kara wailed. “Please turn it off!”

“What noise, Kara? Is it the monitors?” 

Kara could not respond. Instead, she started shaking. Her skin broke out in a clammy sweat. Gurgling sounds began to erupt from her mouth.

Cat shot a fearful glance at Lena, and then at the ‘Code Red’ button on the side of the door.

“Make it stop!” roared Kara, a new intensity to her voice. She was squeezing her head tightly.

“I trust her, Cat!” cried Lena. “Don’t you dare!” 

Cat nodded once and glanced again at Kara.

“I TRUSTED YOU, LENA!” Kara screamed. 

Then, in a whisper, with tears streaming down from unfocused eyes, she said, “did you bring me here just to torture me?”

“Kara, of course not!” cried Lena. “Nobody else can hear a noise!”

“They’re yelling!”

“Who?”

“YOU!”

“No!” yelled Lena. Then, realising that she had yelled, she whispered “No.”

“You said you felt cold when you stopped touching me!”

Lena scanned her memory desperately. She only thought it. Right before thinking about whether or not Kara and Shuri had sex.

Kara cried out in pain. She was sobbing loudly, her head still clutched in her hands. She rolled around on the floor in anguish.

“OF COURSE WE HAD SEX! IS THAT WHY YOU’RE DOING THIS?”

Disbelief rushed through Lena.

“Please stop, please stop, please stop,” Kara was now sobbing. She let out another searing scream. Then, she scrambled up from the floor and flailed blindly around the room, desperately clutching her ears. 

As she hit against the equipment, it seemed to bend exponentially away from her. Body-shaped dents appeared in the plastic skins. Hydraulic arms whined under the pressure of Kara’s weight as she careened into them, before snapping off loudly. Electrical cables sparked overhead as Kara ricocheted through the monitors as if they were made of paper. 

“Stop, Kara!” Lena cried. “Stay still!”

But Kara was still weeping in pain, and desperate to escape the torture. She flung her body wildly across the pod. Then, she collided with the tough outer skin of the building, and ripped straight through it. 

Kryptonian air rushed into the pod. Sirens began to screech. Lena’s face went white. Instinctively, she let out a gasp, and she could feel the pull of her lungs willing her to breathe in. Fighting it, she grabbed at the dusty sleeve of her rad-suit and pulled it haphazardly against her mouth. 

Thinking quickly, Cat lunged for the emergency air lock button. Lena could see the thick red dust already beginning to swirl inside. Cat waved desperately at Lena, pointing wildly at the entrance door. Lena sprinted for the door, still mashing her mouth closed, willing herself not to gasp for air.

The airlock whooshed open, and Lena and Cat dived inside. Lena slammed the button to close the door, and the small entrance chamber began to repressurise. Cat and Lena coughed against the flurry of copper-red dust, and gasped for breath.

Cat slid to the floor. Lena glanced over at her, and then extended her hand for a fist bump. “Thanks for saving us,” she said.

Cat touched her fist gently to Lena’s, and sighed, “no problem, boss.” It would take almost half an hour before the engineer team would be able to fix the pressure and let them out. 

Cat turned to Lena. “What did she mean, of course they had sex?”


	3. Powers - Plural

The cold red of the sunrise began to flash out across the horizon. Dragging her sled behind her, Lena plodded across the red earth, headed for Sector E-18. More space rocks. On her heavy-gravity walks across the terrain, she liked to imagine other types of scientists she could have been. Marine biologists only have to go into the ocean. Maybe she could have been a theoretical physicist, and just stayed on Earth. 

“Imagine,” she said to herself. “How nice would it be to be able to see more than half a metre in front of your face. You should have done more maths in college, Lena, you idiot.”

“But then you wouldn’t have met me,” laughed Kara from beside her.

Lena fell backwards in fright, landing heavily in the soft dirt. She scrambled away instinctively before processing who she had heard.

“Kara?” she asked.

“Kara,” beamed Kara.

“I thought I would never see you again,” said Lena.

“You’re on Krypton. You might never see anything ever again.”

Lena groaned and rolled her eyes. Then she turned to face the Kryptonian. “How are you doing?” Lena asked gingerly.

Kara didn’t respond. She just grinned softly at Lena.

“I have something to show you,” said Kara.

“Okay?” said Lena.

“But you have to take me back to your camp,” said Kara.

Lena frowned. “What about the men? With the guns? What about what happened last time, Kara?! Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“Do you trust me?” asked Kara softly, searching Lena’s face.

Lena blushed furiously, suddenly thankful her face was almost entirely obscured by her ventilator.

“Of course,” said Lena, after a pause. She couldn’t even justify it to herself; she didn’t know why she trusted Kara. It just seemed right, somehow. Maybe because Shuri had trusted her. 

“Then let’s go!” said Kara merrily. She started off towards the base, not waiting for Lena to catch up.

**

This time, Olsen already had his taser drawn. His face was stiff with resolve.

“Dr. Luthor,” he said at once. “You know I cannot let that  _ thing  _ back into the base. Not after last time.”

“Stand down, Olsen,” said Lena. She stepped ever-so-slightly to the left so that she was in between Kara and the muzzle of the taser.

“Ma’am,” said Olsen firmly, “she almost killed you. And Dr. Grant. I can’t let that happen again.”

Kara glanced around. Several more soldiers had appeared from all sides, and they were pointing their tasers, too. Kara reached for Lena’s hand and squeezed it in warning.

“It’s Doctor,” said Lena even more firmly, her tone scolding now. “And that is an  _ order _ , Olsen. Stand down.”

He watched her for a long time. She raised her chin to him, defiant, waiting. After what seemed like years, he lowered his weapon. With a shuffling of rad-suits and dust, the other crew members lowered their weapons, too.

Lena, casting another cautious eye across her crew, shepherded Kara quickly towards Pod 5. She felt many pairs of eyes following them as they went.

**

Cat looked up from her monitor and startled. 

“What the actual fuck?” she muttered, striding towards the airlock.

The entrance chamber made a whoosh of oxygen, but the inner door did not slide open. Lena looked up in surprise.

Cat was leaning on the manual entry button, stopping it from opening. Her face was inches from the door.

“Cat!” called Lena, “open the door!” She began to unstrap her ventilator from her face.

“Not until you explain to me what the hell you’re doing, bringing her back here!” Cat called back.

Lena drew in a sharp breath of freshly scrubbed oxygen. It felt cool on her face after the warm, sweaty grip of her mask. 

“She says she has something to show us,” called Lena. She glanced at Kara.

“It won’t happen again!” Kara said, peering at Kat through the glass. “That’s exactly what I wanted to show you.”

“I trust her, Cat,” said Lena. “And so did Shuri. I don’t want to have to order you, but I will.”

Cat glanced from Lena to Kara, and back. Kara shot her a warm look, hands raised in surrender.

The inner door slid open, and Lena and Kara stepped into the medical bay. Lena peeled back the face guards of her rad-suit, yanked her arms free of the sleeves, and rolled it down to her waist. She knotted the sleeves loosely across her hips. 

“Ah, that feels good,” she sighed. She glanced at Kara, who looked away quickly and cleared her throat.

“Turn on the sunlamps,” said Kara quickly, looking at Cat.

Cat glanced at Lena, and only followed Kara’s instructions once Lena had nodded her approval.

“Do you have any ear plugs?” said Kara, as the whirring machines began flickering to life.

Cat nodded, and began to rummage through the draws in her desk.

“Will these do?” she said finally, extending an expensive-looking set of safety earmuffs towards Kara.

“Perfect,” said Kara. Her face had become strained with effort. She snatched them from Cat and thrust them ungraciously over her ears. Her face relaxed at once.

“Think something,” said Kara, slightly too loudly.

Lena and Cat were taken aback. Kara just watched them, and stepped under the bright yellow UV lamps installed in the centre of the room.

Lena and Cat watched as Kara’s face contorted with effort and what seemed to be pain. She clutched the headset tighter against her head, and raised her face towards the lights. 

“Think something!” said Kara again, straining.

“Because I want to show you what I learnt,” said Kara, answering a question that was never spoken. “Think something that I couldn’t possibly know just from talking to Shuri!”

Cat and Lena exchanged looks. Kara was starting to vibrate with effort, but she was not wailing in pain. Cat stepped closer to the airlock manual override, just in case. 

“Okay,” said Kara, turning an ear towards Lena. “No need to think all of your deep, dark secrets!” 

Then Kara blushed and looked away. “Shit, sorry,” she said, deep embarrassment in her tone. “I had no idea.”

“What am I thinking now?” called Cat, saving Lena from the deeply crimson blush rising up her cheeks.

“About Kyrptonian anatomy,” smiled Kara, winking at Cat. “You’re not wrong.”

“Oh my god,” breathed Cat quietly. Then she called out to Kara, “what is the name of Lena’s sister?”

Lena looked taken aback for a second.

“Lena doesn’t have a sister,” said Kara, squinting towards Lena as if able to see through her. “She has a brother. What’s his name, Lena?” she asked.

Lena thought instantly of Lex. It made her jaw go rigid.

“Oh,” said Kara. “Alexander. He doesn’t make you feel very good, it seems.”

“How are you doing that?” cried Lena, at the same time that Cat said, “easily inferred. What am I thinking now?”

“You are thinking about the reaction of radium upon exposure to Kryptonian air.”

Lena glanced sideways at Cat.

“She’s right,” nodded Cat, awestruck.

“Your yellow sun,” said Kara, pointing to the sun lamps as a way of explanation. “It gives me powers.”

“Powers - plural?” asked Cat, scientific curiosity starting to pull her further away from the large red emergency alarm.

Kara nodded once. She breathed in softly, and then strained. After a moment, her body began to lift as if pulled upward by the belly button. Suddenly, her feet were no longer touching the grooved steel floor. 

Kara glanced towards Lena, and beamed proudly.

“I’ve never actually tried it before,” said Kara, “but the elders said it would work if I just focused.”

Lena‘s jaw fell open in amazement. She forgot for a moment that Kara had  _ just _ shown them she could read their minds. Kara and Lena’s faces blushed wildly as they both experienced the butterflies growing in Lena’s stomach.

Suddenly, Kara’s attention shifted towards the wall just behind the life support machine in the corner.

“Oh no,” said Kara softly.

“What is it?” called Lena, glancing over to where she was looking.

“The soldiers are here,” said Kara, just as Lena heard the outer door of the pod clunk open mechanically. Three dust-coloured soldiers in armoured rad-suits stepped into the airlock. Their tasers were already raised.

Lena lunged for the manual override as she heard the oxygen bursting into the chamber. She stretched out to slam it into the wall, but she was too late. The inner door slid open silently. The three soldiers spilled into the room, motioning in silent hand gestures to each other. They fanned out against the octagonal walls. Their tasers were already trained on Kara.

“Stand down, soldiers! That is an order!” cried Lena at once. The three faceless crew, still anonymous in their ventilators, held their position.

Lena’s face grew wild. She stepped in front of Kara.

“This is  _ Commander  _ Luthor. I order you to lower your weapons. Now.”

The soldiers still did not move. One of them lifted a shoulder to mutter something into a radio. “Yes, sir,” Lena heard them say.

Outraged, Lena strode straight toward them, facing down their taser with fury. Behind Lena, Kara was vibrating with effort.

“It’s Olsen, I think,” said Kara, her voice shaky with adrenaline, or whatever the Kryptonian version was. “He’s outside. Something about  _ Section 584? _ ”

“A mutiny,” said Lena, more to herself than anyone else. She stepped right up into the face of the soldier. She could read their name tag from there. Sawyer. She was young, maybe 20. She was a good kid.

“Sawyer,” Lena said. She grabbed a fistful of Sawyer’s rad-suit, right under her neck, and pulled her close. “Tell Olsen to stand the fuck down.”

Sawyer, her heart beating rapidly, could only manage short sentences. “I can’t, Doctor. You’ve been relieved of command.”

“Like hell I have!” Lena cried. She grabbed at the radio transmitter buckled to Sawyer’s shoulder. “Olsen, you jumped up prick!” she yelled into it. “Nobody’s life is in danger. Stop being such a prejudiced fuck.” The radio crackled as Olsen pulled his own receiver to his mouth.

Suddenly, Lena heard a cry of surprise from behind her. She spun around, still holding tightly to Sawyer’s uniform. The two electric wires from the shorter soldier’s taser had clearly been discharged, and yet they lay limply at Kara’s feet. The metallic ends that were supposed to spike into the victim were bent into unnatural ninety-degree angles. 

Kara was still hovering, but she had shot higher into the ceiling of the pod, and she was cramped directly against the wide array of sunlamps above them. Her eyes began to glow a deep shade of red. Her expression was dark. 

Then there was a sharp cry of pain. Lena spun back around.The soldier that had shot Kara was now doubled over against the floor, clutching their ankles. Their rad-suit had melted away, exposing a searing burn in a neat line across each ankle. It sizzled.

Lena gasped loudly as she watched. Kara turned to the other soldier, who immediately discharged their taser. The ends of the taser seemed to bounce off Kara’s chest, bend into mangled lumps, and fall with a spark to the floor. The soldier, desperate, threw the whole taser at Kara. It bounced off, too. Then Kara’s eyes glowed an even brighter red, and tiny, sharp beams of light shot out of them.

Lena had to shield her eyes, the light was so bright. When she was able to look back, she saw the soldier lying in a heap on the floor. Blood was pooling out from their legs. Their eyes were wide with shock as they rocked backward and forward with pain. 

Shouting loudly, another four soldiers poured into the airlock. In they came, tense, in formation, tasers trained and ready. The soldier at the front barked out an order, and all four of them discharged their weapons at once. 

“Lena!” cried Kara, pointing towards them, but it was too late. Lena felt the pulse of electricity rip down her spine. Her muscles went rigid. She cried out involuntarily. Then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

Lena glanced at the monitor built into the wrist of her rad-suit. It was late, about three hours until sunset. She sighed, and glanced around. Her rock trolley stood about three metres away, heavily laden with gleaming white samples. 

Thanks to Kara’s notebook, Lena had made the most significant discovery that an inter-planet mission had ever made. She had a six-day delayed transmission from the Prime Minister themselves to thank her for this groundbreaking discovery. She had deleted it immediately, and then sent a strongly-worded transmission back to Control. It had contained the words “colonisation” and “Kryptonian scientific community.” It warned her superiors in no uncertain terms that they had to credit the discovery to the Kryptonian Science Council about 600 years ago. She already knew they were not going to listen.

She glanced over at the elemental glow of the rock trolley, no longer filled with rusty-looking, hopeful attempts at a discovery. That trolley alone could make 600% more power in one hour with one generator than their current set-up of 16 could make for the length of the whole mission. 

It had been exactly what she had been looking for. It seemed insignificant now; who cared about space rocks when you had witnessed Kara’s power. Dejected, and lost in thought, Lena plonked herself down into the dust. There she sat, thinking, for more time than she remembered.

She startled from her light nap as she felt a presence sit down beside her. Her eyes shot to her right. 

“Kara!” said Lena.

“Lena,” smiled Kara.

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” said Lena. Her voice was suddenly animated. 

“Are you okay?” asked Kara, unable to mask her concern.

“Cat healed everyone up no problems.”

Kara, unconvinced, reached a hand out instinctively to Lena’s back, where the taser’s sharp prongs had pierced her. Lena could feel the warmth of Kara’s hand pouring through her rad-suit. It felt like her hand was directly against her back. Lena shivered when she pulled her hand away.

“It was nothing,” said Lena quietly. “I’ve been tased before. It wears off after a bit.”

“It seems dangerous,” said Kara.

“So, it was the sunlamps?” asked Lena, already knowing the answer.

Kara nodded. “The elders have only seen it once before. I guess because until your crews began to arrive, we had never been in the yellow sunlight.”

Lena smiled. Silently, she picked up a small, orange rock from the ground beside her, and slung it at Kara.

Kara jumped in surprise as the rock struck her bicep and made a small indent in her skin.

“Ouch!” cried Kara.

“So no powers out here, huh?” said Lena playfully. “Just checking.”

“Why would you do that?” said Kara, clutching at the small new bruise on her shoulder.

“I saw you fly, read minds, and shoot light beams out of your eyeballs,” smiled Lena. “It’s good to check you aren’t about to singe me.”

“You forgot about x-ray vision,” said Kara with a smirk.

“Wait,” said Lena, “like looking through clothes?”

“Ew,” said Kara, “I’m not a creep! Like looking through walls.”

There was a long, pregnant pause.

“So,” said Kara finally. “You know that first day I had the powers?”

“When you thought we were torturing you and you ripped a hole through our building and just about killed us?”

“Yeah. The first thing I ever heard was that you felt cold when I stopped leaning on you that day.”

Lena said nothing. 

“That wasn’t all you thought …” said Kara, trailing off.

“No,” said Lena. Her mind was racing almost as fast as her heart. 

“Do you … do you still feel like that?”

Lena just nodded, overcome with shyness all of a sudden. 

“I …” said Kara, stumbling uncharacteristically over her words. “I do, too.”

Lena glanced up in surprise. Then, gently, she reached out, and took Kara’s hand in hers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it sorry lads! I know it wasn't the longest or the bestest, but please feel free to pick it up and run with it if you want to write it betterer. I would love to see it.


End file.
